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Washington, D.C. Office

Washington, D.C., is where our nation’s most important environmental laws are made. The D.C. office defends and strengthens national standards for clean air and clean water.

Signature Work

Washington, D.C., is where our nation’s most important environmental laws are made. Earthjustice's Washington, D.C., office opened in 1978. We collaborate with and complement the work of local, regional and national groups working to safeguard public health and the environment in the Mid-Atlantic region and nationwide. Learn about some of the office's current and past legal cases.

A sampling of the Washington, D.C.'s office's work includes:

Strengthening National Air Quality Standards

The Washington, D.C. office works at the federal level to strengthen air quality standards across the nation. More protective standards will also force adoption of the more stringent pollution controls in the national capital region, to the benefit of its millions of residents.

Restoring the Anacostia River

For decades, the Anacostia River has suffered the effects of an antiquated sewer system, urban runoff, and stormwater pollution. Earthjustice’s legal work has been critical to reversing decades of neglect and putting the river on a path to a cleaner future. Earthjustice is committed to an Anacostia River fully restored to the outstanding natural resource it once was, by securing stronger efforts to curb stormwater pollution, addressing toxic pollution in the Anacostia riverbed, defending the gains we have made against combined sewer overflows, securing a stronger cap on trash pollution in the Anacostia River, and more.

Ensuring Clean, Affordable Energy Resources for All of Maryland’s Communities

In Maryland and across the country, energy investment and policy decisions are being made today that will shape our future for decades to come. Now is the time to reduce our reliance on dirty energy resources and ramp up investment in clean energy resources, including what should be our country’s first fuel, energy efficiency, for the benefit of all communities. In collaboration with our partners, Earthjustice works to ensure state utilities tap the potential for significant energy savings across all customer sectors.

Improving Air Quality In the Mid-Atlantic Region

In its 2015 State of the Air Report, the American Lung Association gave the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. metropolitan area a grade of "F" for ozone pollution (smog) levels. Breathing ozone is linked to an array of serious health impacts, including bronchitis, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and premature deaths. Coal-fired power plants are Maryland’s largest individual sources of nitrogen oxides (NOx), one of the pollutants that causes ground-level ozone.

Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Industrialization, sewage, and both urban and agricultural runoff have transformed Chesapeake Bay from a once vibrant and thriving ecosystem, into a heavily polluted waterway where health advisories against swimming or eating local seafood are the norm. Though there have been some improvements, due in part to the work of Earthjustice and our partners, much more remains to be done to restore this ecosystem to health, by reducing stormwater pollution, preventing sediment pollution in the Upper Chesapeake Bay, reducing trash in our waterways, addressing nutrient pollution, protecting local streams, and more.

News From Washington, DC

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that U.S. EPA is illegally failing to control ozone pollution — smog — that travels across state lines and contributes to unhealthy air in downwind states. The ruling requires EPA to secure clean air by reducing the pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants and other polluting industries in upwind states — pollution reductions that will save hundreds of lives and prevent hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks every year. The court also rejected arguments by polluting industries and red states that the pollution reductions EPA has already required are too costly.